Theseus kills the Minotaur. Collins, who heard the story when she was eight years old, was unsettled by its ruthlessness and cruelty. Collins said, "In her own way, Katniss is a futuristic Theseus." Collins also characterized the novels with the fearful sensations she experienced when her father was fighting in the Vietnam War. In the novels, Katniss is extensively knowledgeable in foraging, wildlife, hunting, and survival techniques. Collins knew some of this background from her father, who grew up in the Great Depression and was forced to hunt to augment a scanty food supply, although Collins saw her father bring home food from the wild during her childhood as well. In addition, Collins researched the subject using a large stack of wilderness survival guidebooks. Katniss and the other tributes are, in their time before participating in their Hunger Games, compelled to compete for the hearts of sponsors who donate money that can be used to buy vital supplies for them when they are in the arena such as medicine, matches, food, and water. The concept of how the audiences carry nearly as much force as actual characters is based on how, in reality television and in the Roman games, the audience can both "respond with great enthusiasm or play a role in your elimination," as Collins said. Name Katniss' first name comes from a plant called Sagittaria, or arrowhead, which is a tuber plant, usually found in water. The root of this plant can be eaten, as Katniss does in the book. Her father once said: "As long as you can find yourself, you'll never starve." Because of the arrow-shaped leaf, this wetlands plant also shares its name with a constellation in the Zodiac called Sagittarius, or "The Archer", which may also reference Katniss' skills in archery. Her last name comes from Bathsheba Everdene, the central female character in the 1874 novel Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy. According to Collins, "The two are very different, but both struggle with knowing their hearts". In the books The Hunger Games The Hunger Games takes place in the ruins of North America: a country called Panem, consisting of the Capitol and 13 subservient districts. During the yearly "Reaping" of tributes for the gladiator-like Hunger Games, Katniss' younger sister, Primrose (Prim) is selected as District 12's female tribute during the yearly public lottery, called the Reaping. Katniss volunteers to take Prim’s